The Analysis of Polysaccharides Present in Glycosylated Proteins

While the majority of reported work concerning the sequencing of biomolecules by LC-MS has involved proteins, important information may also be obtained from oligosaccharides by employing a similar methodology to that described previously. 

The study of sulfated standards enabled certain structural features to be associated with particular ions that appeared in their negative-ion electrospray MS-MS spectra. The following is reproduced from this paper [23]  

It was also noted that ions at m/z 180 and m/z 513, associated with the attachment of sulfate to C-3 of GlcNAc and C-4 of GalNAc, found in the FAB MS-MS spectra, were also observed in electrospray MS-MS spectra but were of low abundance. 

GalNAc, Gal, GlcNAc, Hex and HexNAc are the abbreviations used when discussing sequences of monosaccharides and represent A-acetylgalactosamine, galactose, N-acctylglucosamine, hexose, i.e. a monosaccharide with six carbon atoms, and N-acctylhcxosamine, respectively. 

High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry 

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